Recount confirms: SeaTac voters pass $15 minimum wage

A hand recount in SeaTac has confirmed the narrow, nationally watched win for Proposition 1, providing for a $15-an-hour minimum wage for workers at and around Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

The measure received 3,040 votes in favor to 2,963 opposed. It is slated to take effect on January 1, 2014, but first faces a court challenge.

The Alaska Air Group, corporate parent of Alaska Airlines, has sued to invalidate the initiative on grounds that Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is owned and operated under auspices of the Port of Seattle.

King County Superior Court Judge Andrea Darvis will hold a hearing Friday on the lawsuit.

Supporters of Prop. 1, which was heavily boosted by labor unions, said in a statement: “We’re disappointed that corporate lawyers at Alaska will stop at nothing to block living wages and paid sick days for more than 6,000 people working in the profitable travel industry.

The narrow win in SeaTac has brought calls for a $15-an-hour minimum wage in Seattle, as well as the prospect of an initiative campaign if the Seattle City Council does not enact the wage.

The federal minimum wage is just $7.25 an hour. Washington has the country’s highest minimum wage, $9.19, enacted by a voter initiative that ties the minimum wage to the rate of inflation.

President Obama has endorsed a national minimum wage of $10.10 an hour, but House Speaker John Boehner has said the Republican-run House will not vote on any increase.

The Washington, D.C., City Council voted last week for an $11.50 minimum wage, a substantial increase over the capital’s existing $8.25 minimum wage. Two populous jurisdictions bordering on D.C., Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties in Maryland, have adopted the $11.50 minimum wage — creating a contiguous area with 2.5 million residents that would pay the higher minimum.